Alter that!

Like so many other scrap-bookers I am also very keen on other crafts and in particular I love altering things. When I saw this birdcage in the Trip Down Memory Lane shop I decided I had to have one for my next altering project. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to show how to use crackle medium along with acrylic paints and distress inks to create a distressed paint peeling effect.

I started by unpacking the pieces of chipboard and laid them out on a silicone sheet to protect my work surface…

I then painted them a dark brown colour on both sides, I used a brush, though the dabber ‘end’ of a paint dabber would work well too…

Once the paint was dry I assembled the birdcage with PVA glue and found that just a small amount of glue applied in the right place and a little bit of patience was very effective! The instructions were a little hard to see when trying to work out where to put the little round hinge part, but I think this is right...

Gluing the roof together was also a little tricky and I had to sit for a little while with my fingers like this…

Before attaching the roof I decided to continue my paint effect work and the next step was to completely coat the birdcage with a crackle medium. I think Ranger make a version of this, but I still have a lot left in my container that I bought years ago in Do It All so I used that...

Once the crackle medium is completely dry (I went away and left it for a couple of hours, but it doesn’t take that long – only about 20 minutes) I then painted over it with cream coloured paint. This time you DO need to use a brush as the dabber won’t give you a thick enough layer. It is important NOT to go back over a bit you have already painted as the crackle effect starts to work immediately and you could spoil it.

Once crackled paint on the roof and the cage were both dry I glued the roof onto the cage...

Finally I used distress ink pads applied with cut ‘n’ dry foam to the edges of the cage to give it an even more aged feeling.

If you feel that the whole crackle medium technique is a bit taxing, you could always use Ranger’s Tim Holtz crackle paint (I would still paint a different colour underneath to show through the cracks). Alternatively you could paint your cage in a plain colour then cover with Crackle Accents to give a cracked glass effect all over.

I’ll be back on 10^th August to show you what I did with my birdcage next.

Oh – and cat supervision is not recommended, though generally unavoidable in my house!